9.
Templating How it all works If you go the default theme folder ( wp-content/themes/default ), you will see many PHP files (these are template files) and one style.css file. When you are viewing the front page, WordPress actually uses several template files to generate the page ( index.php << header.php , sidebar.php , and footer.php ).

16.
Templating The Loop The Loop is used to display posts and it also lets you control what to display. Basically, The Loop checks if there are posts in your blog, while there are posts, display it, if no post found, say &quot;Not Found&quot;.

17.
Templating A complete template In this example we are using some standard Template Tags to display the title of the post the_title() and we are linking it using the_permalink() . We call use the_date() and display the_content() . Finally for fun we call link_pages() .

18.
Templating Playing with the code <?php wp_list_categories('show_count=1&title_li=<h2>Categories</h2>'); ?> Most blogs display categories somewhere, usually the side bar. The easiest way to do this is with the wp_list_categories() Template Tag.

22.
Writing Plugins “ Plug-ins can extend WordPress to do almost anything you can imagine.” -WordPress.org * See my presentation on WordPress Plugin Development and Making the Most of Plugins

Conventions

For each new plug-in I create a folder in the /wp-content/plugins/ pluginname / and then in that folder I create the main plug-in file with the same name as the folder + .php so the plug-in file is /wp-content/plugins/pluginname/ pluginname.php .

I usually start by converting a php function that I have built or found and convert it by adding the necessary WP code.